Rose Tyler and the Peverell Quest
by HalfASlug
Summary: Rose hasn't read Harry Potter. The Doctor isn't too pleased.
1. Chapter 1

_A/N: To celebrate reaching 500 followers on tumblr recently I took a load of prompts as a thank you. This one was from elizasurpriza:_

"Congrats on 500! I'll take Rose and the Doctor discussing HP, or the golden trio discussing Doctor Who, please."

 _I went with the former. Harry has enough misery in his life without adding Doomsday to it. This story contains huge spoilers for all HP books just in case you are one of the three people who haven't read or seen them._

 _Disclaimer: I am not the BBC, RTD, JKR or anybody with famous initials._

* * *

It was on an average Saturday that Rose felt she had let the New New Doctor down for the first time. They were on a planet she had no hopes of pronouncing the name of, surrounded by the three legged guards of the prince that he had just offended.

Okay, so maybe not so average.

"You will apologise to the Prince!" yelled the guard at the front. Despite being a full two feet shorter than the Doctor, Rose thought they were still intimidating, what with their cattle prod-like spears.

The Doctor snorted. Apparently a couple of centuries of being constantly threatened helped build up an immunity.

"You attacked him and you will apologise! Immediately!"

"Oh, come one!" the Doctor laughed. "His cape-y, robe thing caught fire. I was putting it out! I was helping!" He stood straighter and nodded. "I should be rewarded."

"Don't push it," hissed Rose when the guards made angry gurgling noises at them.

"I don't know what you're talking about," the prince replied, water dripping from his beard. He spoke so sincerely that Rose would have believed him had his cape-y robe thing as the Doctor so eloquently described it, not still been smoking slightly.

"That is a Cornelius Fudge level of denial!" crowed the Doctor. He glanced over at her and frowned.

"What?"

"You didn't laugh at my joke," he pouted.

"Ha."

"It was funnier than that!"

"Right, well, I'll laugh at it when the prince stops glaring at us like that." Rose shot a pointed look at the prince in question and wondered if this was part of his plan.

It probably wasn't, judging by how genuinely hurt he was. "You normally laugh at my jokes."

"Stop talking to the woman and apologise!" growled one of the guards, but the Doctor was apparently completely bored with the whole might-be-getting-arrested conversation.

"Cornelius Fudge?" he explained. "Minister of Magic?"

"What planet was that again?"

"What - what planet? Yours!" the Doctor squeaked. "He's in Harry Potter."

Rose shrugged. "Never seen them."

The look he gave her, she might as well have just informed him she wished to marry a Dalek and, though she knew they had a bit of history, could he put it behind him just for one day so he could give her away?

"Rose Tyler, what are you telling me?" he asked in a dangerously low voice. "How can you - wait - did you say _seen_?"

Meanwhile, the prince's guards seemed to care less about Harry Potter than Rose did. "You will cease-"

The Doctor whirled around and scowled at the guard. "Can't you see I'm having a serious conversation?" The guard blinked as though no one had defied him so blatantly before. "Thank you. Now, Rose," he continued as there had been no interruption, "you're saying you've never read a Harry Potter book?"

Rose shook her head while the guard raged behind the Doctor.

"Let me solve this little misunderstanding, we'll go back to the TARDIS and I will fix that," the Doctor said. Over his shoulder, Rose saw the guard raise his spear, a green energy bolt glowing at the tip, and knew it would likely be at least a few hours until she'd be going to be anywhere near a copy of Philosopher's Stone.

As it was, it only took a couple of minutes for the Doctor to recover from his shock and for one of the guards to admit that he had accidentally set his prince on fire. With a formal apology and a couple of cape-y robes things of their own, the pair of them were back in the TARDIS before sundown.

The Doctor threw his new garment over the railing, followed by his coat, and bounced up the ramp. By the time Rose had joined him, they were in the vortex.

"Dinner?" suggested Rose. They hadn't had chance to eat, having spent most of their time on the planet avoiding a diplomatic incident.

"Nope. Library." The Doctor clapped his hands onto Rose's shoulders and started pushing her down the corridor.

"Is this about the Harry Potter thing?" Rose whinged. "Can't we eat first?"

"You've already been denied the joy of Harry's world for far too long," the Doctor told her seriously. "How, I don't want to think about, but it ends here."

Rose blew her hair out of her face and made a point of leaning back and trying to plant her feet on the grated floor.

"If you think that will save you, then think again," the Doctor warned. "Chapter One. The Boy Who Lived. Mr and Mrs Dursley, of number four-"

"Hang on - have you got the whole thing memorised?"

"Only the first four."

"Chapters?"

"Books."

Rose sighed and allowed herself to be transported to the library, knowing she would be fighting a losing battle if she were stupid enough to start one. She'd seen him get passionate about a lot of things. Justice. The Jam. Jam. This was something else, however. Normally he'd happily talk her ear off, flailing his arms around because words alone could not possibly convey just how world shatteringly important it was that this thing existed. If she listened, he carried on and would venture off into anecdotes and related subjects. If she didn't, he moved onto the next thing. This was the first time he was pushing her - physically _pushing her_ \- to join in.

Three hours later, Rose knew why.

Three hours later, Rose wished she could cross her own time stream in order to help him push herself towards the library.

After that it was hard to tear her away from the book. The Doctor couldn't have been happier. If anything, the look on his face when she asked if she could take it with her to read it before bed was the best part of the whole experience. The whole of time and space at the end of her eager fingertips and Rose was spending all of her time curled up with the Doctor and these children's books she'd never cared about before, having the time of her life.

Though he refused to spoil anything for her, the Doctor was more than happy to bounce theories off and even found a twenty-fourth century Sorting Hat for her to try on. He celebrated every Quidditch win with her, held her as she cried over Sirius and even saved Half-Blood Prince from being thrown at a wall when Snape killed Dumbledore.

With the tears from the resulting funeral still drying on her face, she'd asked him if he could get the next book while she made them some sorely needed tea.

"It's 2006," he replied, a crease forming between his brows. "For you, anyway."

"So?" Rose croaked.

"Deathly Hallows doesn't come out until 2007."

She stared at him. "We're in a time machine."

"I'd noticed."

"So just… jump ahead."

"What? And spoil the thrill of the wait?" He jumped up so he was crouched on the sofa facing her, his eyes alive with excitement. "That was the most exciting time of the entire series, Rose! The theories, the discussions, the arguments! Would Harry survive? Whose side was Snape on? Why was Florean Fortescue kidnapped? Would Ron and Hermione finally get together? Was Umbridge the main antagonist all along? No one knew and we all had to wait, Rose!

"For those few months, people of all ages, all nationalities, all religions, genders and - and _star sign_ were united. Midnight came, records were broken and one of the greatest stories ever told came to an end."

"How long did you wait?"

"About three minutes," he replied. "But I went back after I'd finished it and queued up at midnight."

No matter how much Rose protested, the Doctor refused point blank to let her near a copy of Deathly Hallows. She'd tried every corner of the TARDIS but it seemed the ship herself was conspiring against her as well. Any time they visited Earth in her future, the Doctor kept her away from bookshops and libraries. He even caught her asking Chloe Webber if she had a copy.

Then, as luck would have it, she was browsing a market stall on the other side of the Milky Way when she saw a battered purple and red book she had been hunting for for months. Nearly taking out one of the other shoppers, she pounced on it before the Doctor could stop her.

"Chapter One," she read. "The Dark Lord Ascending. The two men appeared out of nowhere-"

"What are you doing?" the Doctor gasped, appearing out of nowhere.

"Oh, please," begged Rose. "I've started it now!"

"No chance. Hand the book over."

Locked in a staring contest, Rose did her best to flirt without breaking eye contact or being too obvious.

"Rose…"

 _Damn._

Desperate times called for desperate measures and Rose was more desperate than she'd like to admit to start looking for those bloody horcruxes.

"If you don't let me buy it," she said deliberately so he wouldn't miss a word, "I will read the last page."

The Doctor's eyes went wide. "You wouldn't."

Rose flipped the book over, a picture of Hogwarts castle now visible with the blurb.

"Don't."

She opened the back cover, still watching him sweat.

"Fine," he relented. He jumped forward to slam the book shut before she saw any of the words. "But you read all of it with me."

"Why?"

"It's the best one and I don't want to miss any of the good bits," he grinned in response. He took the book from her to grasp her hand and pull her towards him. "Anything else you need before we go?"

"Um… Oh, yeah! I saw something I wanted to give my mum." She moved from where she had buried herself in his coat and picked up a small trinket from the table next to her. "Thought she'd like this. 'S'sort of pretty, don't you think?"

"Oh yes," he replied softly, not looking at the object in her hand. "But it's not just for decoration, oh no. Bazoolium's got a few uses…"


	2. Chapter 2

_A/N: There was an outcry after I originally posted this on tumblr so I wrote an epilogue because I am weak._

* * *

It had been an odd couple of weeks for the Doctor and, for him, that was saying something. It had all started with him waking up on the floor of his flaming TARDIS and being informed by Donna that he wasn't wearing anything. By some miracle it had only got more bizarre from that point onwards. **  
**

Now, however, everything looked perfectly normal to the untrained eye. He and Rose had just stepped through the door of her flat after a week spent in the south of France. Of course, nothing was a simple as it appeared.

While in France they had stayed at Pete's secluded holiday home in the hopes of avoiding the press until a convincing back story could be written for him that didn't reveal he was a human-Time Lord hybrid and less than a month old. It had been nice to spend some time together without the pressure and questions from everyone else - even if Jackie had phoned them twice a day. A lot of talking had happened, a fair bit of shouting too, and there was still more to be said, but the initial awkwardness and confusion was fading. Sometimes, when Rose smiled and he laughed, he could almost pretend that Torchwood had never torn the world apart.

Then there were times, like now, when he was trying to look as though he was at home in a flat he'd never been in before while subtly trying to take in as much of it as possible. Rose wasn't helping the situation by studying the post that she'd picked up with far more interest than it probably warranted.

"I like your flat," he said, nodding at nothing in particular. "All the-"

"I hate it."

"Oh."

She dropped the post onto a side table, walked over to the fridge and pulled out a purple bottle of Vitex. "Want one?"

"Nah, I'm good."

They stood in silence while she took a swig from the bottle. The Doctor tried not to watch her, but found it difficult. Since being left alone with her, he'd learnt very quickly that he had no way of controlling his own hormones and was struggling with it more than any other change to his biology.

Deciding it would be better to remove himself from the room entirely, he wandered into the living room and looked at the handful of photographs on the mantelpiece. None of them were in frames, just propped up against scented candles and odd trinkets. Most of the people in them he recognised, such as Pete, Jackie or Mickey, but there was the occasional face that was a mystery. One that was easy enough to solve was the ginger toddler that featured in nearly every picture, usually being hugged by a grinning Rose.

"Tony," he breathed, noting how the boy was the spitting image of Pete but with Rose's eyes.

With Rose showing no sign of joining him, he moved onto the small bookshelf. Amongst the surprising amount of physics textbooks was the odd Charles Dickens (he smiled at that), a Torchwood training and operating procedure manual (he grimaced) and a familiar set of seven books.

Breathing a sigh of relief that he wasn't being condemned to a bleak universe, he straightened up, plucking the book on the far right off the shelf as he did so. "So you managed to get a copy, then?"

"What?" Rose called. She hurried into the living room and froze when she what he was holding.

"Deathly Hallows," he said. "What did you think?"

"About?"

He shrugged. "Any of it."

Pulling on her sleeve so it covered all but the tips of her fingers, Rose took a step closer to him. "I haven't read it."

"What?"

She opened her mouth to reply but all that emerged was a choking noise. The Doctor watched in horror as her eyes filled with tears that she ducked her head to hide from him.

Having seen Rose cry more times than he could count since he'd arrived here, over everything from him to _Him_ to missing Tony's first word while she was away, he immediately dropped the book on the sofa and took her hands in his. His heart skipped a beat when she didn't pull away and he wondered what kind of pathetic cardiovascular system he'd been cursed with.

It took a moment, but Rose sniffed and pulled herself together enough to talk. "I was angry with you one day so I bought it. Got home and… couldn't finish the first page. I-I promised and… 'S'stupid-"

She tried to pull away from him, but he held on. "No, it isn't," he told her quietly, ducking down so he could meet her eyes. "Not even a little bit."

It seemed everything either had promised the other and haunted them both. There wasn't a day that went by that the Doctor didn't hear the echo of her "forever", while his vow to always bring her home had probably stayed with Rose in a similar way. It was the smaller things that caught them unawares that hurt the most though, like finding one of her cushions in the library or laughing at something and planning on telling her, only to remember he had no way to.

He hoped it didn't take so long to readjust to having her back in his life.

Though it was a pale imitation of her usual heart-warming grin, the smile she gave him then, her eyes shining, was still enough to remind him of the years that lay ahead of them.

"Well, that's our plan for the evening sorted." He rushed back to sofa to retrieve the book. "First things first…"

As Rose watched on with a bemused, yet fond expression, he flicked through the book at lightening speed and frowned. "Can't read as quickly as I used to…" he muttered with a frown, before repeating the action marginally slower. "Brilliant! Exactly the same as the proper version!"

Rose giggled as he dragged her willingly over to him and down onto the sofa. As though it was only the other day that they had found a copy of Deathly Hallows at that market, she curled into his side and waited for him to start reading.

"Chapter One," he read. "The Dark Lord Ascending."

Over the next couple of days, in between the formalities of forging enough paperwork to make him a legal citizen of the British Republic, the learning curves of discovering a new universe and the joy of finally meeting Tony Tyler, the Doctor and Rose spent every spare minute they could reading.

Like everything in their lives, it wasn't as easy as they first thought it would be. When they finished the chapter where Harry and Hermione visited his parents' graves, Rose announced she fancied going for a run on her own and didn't return for two hours. A quick tea break after Ron's emotional return to the horcrux hunt somehow ended up with them having a frank discussion about everything they'd been through without each other that went on well into the night. During Malfoy Manor she noticed how he'd tensed up and took his hand but didn't ask him why.

As he read on, he thought maybe one day he'd tell her what he'd seen during the Time War. It was only then that it fully hit him that he would have the chance to.

With the final chapter finished, favourite characters mourned, Harry's choice of names mocked whilst Ron and Hermione's were applauded, they crawled into bed and held each other just because they could. As he drifted off into the sleep that he apparently needed _every night_ now, the Doctor knew that things were far from perfect and likely never would be, but for now, with Rose next to him, all was well.

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 _Thanks for reading!_


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